


Dead On Arrival

by orphan_account



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Alec Hardy Whump, Angst, Character Death, F/M, Hurt Alec Hardy, Hurt No Comfort, Minor Alec Hardy/Ellie Miller, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:07:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25148938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: He hears the gunshot before he feels it.AU where Alec Hardy is killed after the killer returns to the hut.
Relationships: Alec Hardy & Ellie Miller, Alec Hardy/Ellie Miller
Comments: 6
Kudos: 65





	Dead On Arrival

He hears the gunshot before he feels it.

A sharp, searing pain that tears through his left side and pulses, white-hot. The world sways, once, twice, before he realizes he's on his knees in wet grass.

His vision threatens to disappear as he presses a numb hand to the wound, warm blood spilling out of him like water.

Ellie screams.

"Sir!" 

And he finds he can't answer. Tongue thick in his mouth, words lodged in the back of his throat.

His heartbeat's surprisingly calm, though his mind spins. 

He thinks, with a quiet clarity, that he is dying.

The thought doesn't scare him at first, but then it's whisked away in a whirlwind of when Daisy was first born, a quick date after work with Tess, Ellie asking him if he's alright- Pippa's lifeless body, then Danny's own on the beach, Ellie with tears streaming down her face-

  
She's kneeled in front of him. Jacket off and bunched against his abdomen, sobbing. 

His fingers twitch and his arm spasms up to rest at her shoulder.

"Sir," Ellie whimpers from behind grit teeth. "You're such an idiot, sir."

Corners of his lips tilt upwards. 

Her voice is almost drowned out by a dull ringing that slowly grows louder; he finds himself on his back, staring up at Broadchurch's cloudy night sky and Ellie's wet, red face.

"Miller," he gargles out, but it sounds wrong and she violently turns her head the other way.

  
"Ellie," he tries again.

_'There. That's better.'_

  
His arm's still at her shoulder. He presses his hand to the top her head, brushing a thumb across her forehead when she looks back.

"Please don't talk," her bottom lip quivers. " _Please_ , Hardy."

He opens and closes his mouth. Barely hearing the wail of sirens.

"Alec." He mutters.

"What?"

"You can- It's Alec, if you want- " A shudder courses through him and his sight blinks out for a moment. "For you. S' just Alec."

Ellie only nods.

"I've got a daughter," he slurs, Ellie offers a brief, sad smile.

"I know, si- Alec." He thinks he raises an eyebrow at her: she makes a noise. "At dinner you told me, and Joe."

Alec nods this time, despite his muscles feeling both too tense and far too limp.

"You need to- " he shakes his head, suddenly dizzy. "Just tell her, I- I've loved her always. Ok, Ellie?"

"Yes, sir." The tears fall off her face and land on his.

Maybe he's crying too.

"Told you. 'Alec.'"

"Right. Alec."

They're silent for a second. 

A second too long. 

He can feel alertness slipping between his fingers, pulling from his grasp.

He takes the hand at Ellie's head and brings it down, cupping her cheek. Swiping at the trails racing down it. 

She has another one of those paper-thin smiles on, not much more than a ghost.

"Ah," he breathes out, a white puff in the dark. "Aren't you a vision."

Alec is silent. His hand falls away.

**Author's Note:**

> Posted on mobile so the formatting might be weird
> 
> (Takes place around S1 E6 btw)


End file.
